$400 million S.C. Powerball winner to stay anonymous

There is a man in South Carolina who has been keeping a big secret for the past five days.

Well, he did tell his dog. And, we assume, his wife.

He's probably hoping his recent good fortune stays a secret, but this will be one mighty hard life-changing event to keep under wraps.

South Carolina lottery officials said a man showed up at their office Monday with the winning ticket to last Wednesday's $399.4 million Powerball jackpot.

In a news release, lottery officials said the man was from the Columbia area.

And that's it. They didn't say how old he was or give his name. South Carolina doesn't divulge the identities of lottery winners to the public if they don't want it to be known.

"I can't tell you what it feels like to know someone has been that fortunate and that lucky," Paula Harper Bethea, executive director of the South Carolina Educational Lottery said last week, calling the win a "wonderful shot in the arm for our state."

Officials said he told them he was driving home when his wife called and told him they needed hot dog buns. So he pulled into a Murphy USA convenience store but there were no buns.

There was a sign for the lottery, so — for only the second time — he played, putting down a $20.

On Thursday, he was at home with just his dog when he checked the numbers.

And he had the ticket with the winning numbers: 7, 10, 22, 32, 35, with Powerball number 19.

One that flies in the face of the formidable 1-in-175,223,510 odds.

The winner told lottery officials that it was only the second time he had ever played the game.

The Murphy store will receive a cool $50,000 for selling the ticket. The release didn't say whether the man chose a 29-year annuity plan or took a cash prize of $223 million.

Wednesday's haul was the fifth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history, and the biggest prize ever in South Carolina.

The biggest payload in American history was $665 million in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. The greatest Powerball jackpot was the $590.5 million won with a single ticket in Florida this past May.

So now people in Columbia might be a whole lot nicer to each other. After all, you never know if that guy you just served dinner to is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Me either, it's not listed in with the anonymous states, but good for him.

I was thinking had it been a pool of people that all worked somewhere and if one of them wanted a press confernce it would have blown it for all of them - not only all of the people in a pool but all of the people that worked at the same place.

Glad this one was a one person jackpot.

Those who run the lotteries love it when players look for consistency in something that's designed not to have any.

There is one and only one 'proven' system, and that is to book the action. No matter the game, let the players pick their own losers.

It is nice to congratulation such a lucky beastard, but this must drive many long time lottery players crazy...the fact that It was only his second time playing the lottery, he told officials. k

That is the way luck goes. Luck does not matter how long you have been at a certain endeavor. Luck does not care about your system or your intuition. When luck shines it ray of light on you, just be happy and be grateful for the prize. And stay anonymous instead of showing up on the Today Show to give tips on how to win the lottery.

Get MONEY!!! Winning a JACKPOT lottery is all the HOPE and CHANGE I desire!!! NOW give me MONEY!

The guy who won the presidency in 2008 really won the lottery...he is now millions richer, travels in first class style, and even has a staff that would be the envy of the richest Powerball winner (she has a staff of 2). Every night he goes to sleep, he probably plays the close of Dave Chappelle's Show: I'm rich beyatch!

It is nice to congratulation such a lucky beastard, but this must drive many long time lottery players crazy...the fact that It was only his second time playing the lottery, he told officials. k

That is the way luck goes. Luck does not matter how long you have been at a certain endeavor. Luck does not care about your system or your intuition. When luck shines it ray of light on you, just be happy and be grateful for the prize. And stay anonymous instead of showing up on the Today Show to give tips on how to win the lottery.

When it's your time to win,you will win.Only need one ticket to win it all.Congratulations to the lucky fellow.I truly hope he can stay anonymous!

When it's your time to win,you will win.Only need one ticket to win it all.Congratulations to the lucky fellow.I truly hope he can stay anonymous!

He wasn't cheap, he didn't mind spending $20.

There was a guy who once lived in my county that owned a couple Mc Donald franchises which he and his wife actively managed. He won a lottery jackpot and he didn't play very often either but the time I saw him buying tickets it was $20 worth too.

The thing I remembered most about him was when he served hamburgers along side his crews at his stores, you wouldn't have never guessed he was the owner and he acted the same way after he won the jackpot. He later retired, sold his stores and moved south.

* you don't need more tickets, just the right ticket * * your best chance at winning a lottery jackpot is to buy a ticket * "I will magically reveal the winning numbers after the drawing"

It is nice to congratulation such a lucky beastard, but this must drive many long time lottery players crazy...the fact that It was only his second time playing the lottery, he told officials. k

That is the way luck goes. Luck does not matter how long you have been at a certain endeavor. Luck does not care about your system or your intuition. When luck shines it ray of light on you, just be happy and be grateful for the prize. And stay anonymous instead of showing up on the Today Show to give tips on how to win the lottery.